The European Union will unveil a series of measures to combat sexual abuse of children. The announcement comes as demand for illegal content on the Internet involving minors increased sharply during confinements imposed as part of the fight against the coronavirus, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Sunday.
"Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for content showing sexual abuse of children has increased by 30% in some member states," she said in the German newspaper Die Welt. . The commissioner thus indicated that she wanted to lead a "more effective fight" against pedophilia, thanks in particular to closer cooperation with Internet companies.
Creation of a new center
The new plan, which Ylva Johansson says will be presented "soon", provides for the creation of a new EU center to help countries "investigate, prevent and combat sexual abuse of children" and facilitate sharing information. "We need prevention strategies", but that is not enough because we must also "apply our laws when they are broken and show that our values prevail, both on the Internet and in real life", a she added.
The Internet is "unfortunately a decisive factor" for potential attackers looking for victims, she said, hoping for greater cooperation with Internet companies.
Several arrests in Germany
Experts have regularly sounded the alarm about vulnerable children who have lived locked up at home in confinement, at the mercy of the perpetrators and cut off from outside help. Millions of children also spent more time online during this time, at risk of being targeted by pedophiles.
Police in Münster, western Germany, on Saturday also announced the arrest in 11 parts of the country of 11 people suspected of having sexually abused several children and of having filmed their crimes. Hard drives containing videos and photos were seized from the cellar of one of the 27-year-old suspects.
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- Sexual assault
- Internet
- Pedophilia
- EU
- Society